Spinning frame drive



May 12, 1959 Filed April 9, 1957 G. MALCOM ET AL SPINNING FRAME DRIVE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 I INVENTORS.

azi/v MALC'OM, MARSHAZL L. BW/PMAN,

.BYMgM G. MALCOM ET AL 2,885,898

SPINNING FRAME DRIVE May 12, 1959 Filed April 9, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS. 6151/ #41 com, 4444 514444 4 z. six/0mm ATTOP/Vfif y 12, 1959 G. MALCOM ET AL Q 2,885,898

SPINNING FRAME DRIVE Filed April 9, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS. 610V macaw, mes/m4 .4. B'HRM/JM ATTO/PA/EK SPINNING FRAME DRIVE Glen Malcom and Marshall Behrrnan, Columbus, Ind., .2: assignors to The Reliance Electric & Engineering Company, Euclid, .Ohio, a corporationof Ohio t jfThe present invention relates to a speed varying drive for machines such as, for instance,spinningframes, and the jprimary object of the invention is to provide a unit which, while possessing the capacity to drive such a mafc hine at incrementally-variable speeds within a predeterinine'd range, is so designed as to occupy a minimum of lufsfeful space, to be accurate in speed-adjustment While being ruggedly constructed from a minimum of parts, and to be readily associablevwith a machine to be driven through'the medium of simple and quickly-applied securifigmeans. M l. Ajfurther object of the invention is to 'provide a supporting base, so proportioned and designed as to constitute a mounting fora driving motor and to carry actuating mechanism for an expansible V-pulley to be mounted on themotor spindle, the whole unit being readily positionable beneath the operating parts of a machine, such as a spinning frame, with only"the pulley projecting slightly outwardly beyond the end frame member of such a machine, for operativeassociation with an expansible V-pulley to be mounted on the main shaft of the machine to be driven. p

,lFurther objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

P e di .M 1?.

forms; but it is a common deficiency of such devices, so far as we are advised, that they must be placed in the aisle space adjacent the short projections of the main shafts of the machines outwardly beyond the end frame members of such machines. Because of the conventional arrangement of such machines in spinning rooms, which cannot readily be disturbed, the location of variable speed drive devices in the aisles is highly objectionable.

In an effort to overcome this deficiency which is com mon to all previous devices of the character under consideration known to us, we have devised a speed varying drive which is so proportioned and designed that its projection into the aisle space between adjacent ranks of spinning frames will be not substantially greater than the projection of the main shafts of the machines, the major portion of each such unit, including the adjusting means, being located inwardly of the machine end frames and beneath the operating parts of the spinning frame.

end frame member 10 and is preferably supported therein Toithe accomplishment of the above and related objects, our invention may be embodied in theform illusftr'a'ted in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that changemay be made inthe specific construction illustrated and described, so long as the scope of the appended claims isnot violated. I j

Fig. 1 is'an-end elevation of a unit constructed in ac- "cerda'nce with'thepresent invention, including-thedriven pulley to bernounted on the main shaft of a machine such 'as, for instance, a spinning frame, an end frame member of such machine being fragmentarily and somewhat diagrammatically indicated; j 'Fig. 2 is a side elevation of such a unit, partly in section, with such end frame member Isectionally indicated; *Fig. 3 is a plan view of the unit, parts being broken away, and the motor being omitted for clarity of illustra- 'tion';' and j p My M ""Fig; 4*is'an enlarged hori'zontalsection taken substantialy on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Spinning frames are customarily usedin large numbers in the textile industry, and it is a problem common to the industry that, since space, is always at a premium in spinning rooms, the aisle space between adjacent ends of spinning frames in separate ranks is narrow. It has long been customary to drive spinning frames at constant speed, though in recent years it has been clearly recognized that such machines should preferably be driven at gradually varying speeds through their operative cycles. Devices for driving spinning frames at such variable Speeds have" therefore been designed and built in various in a bearing 12 of conventional construction, said shaft projecting. slightly outwardly beyond said end frame member. conventionally, such end frame member. 10 is' formed to provide an opening 13 in its lower portion bei-f tween its spaced legs 14, 14. According to the present invention, we provide a base 15 which may be moved between the legs 14, 14 intoia position inwardly of the frame member 10 and beneatl'i the operating parts of a conventional spinning frame, where it may be secured in place by means of lag screws 16, or any other suitable means. Said base is so tie signed as to support a suitable electric motor 17 which may be secured in place thereon as, for instance, by means of machine screws 18. I} The parts are so positioned, relative to the end frame member 10, that the conventional spindle 19, whichis journalled in suitable bearings in the frame of the motor 17, will project slightly outwardly beyond the end frame member 10. On its outboard end, the spindle 19 may support an expansible V-pulley, indicated generally by the reference numeral 20. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the pulley 20 comprises a coned disc 21 having a long hub 22 projecting from its coned face and formed with a socket to receive the outboard end of the spindle 19, said disc and hub being secured against axial or rotational movement with respect to the spindle 19 by any suitable means such as, for instance, the screw 23. A mating coned disc 24 is allochirally arranged with respect to the disc 21 for axial adjustment relative thereto. As shown, the disc 24 is provided with a hub 25 which is slidably mounted upon the hub 22 and is held against rotation with respect thereto by, for instance, a key 26'.

A thrust bearing 27 is operatively associated with the hub 250i the disc 24 and is enclosed in a housing 28, said bearing being held against axial movement with respect to the disc 24 by engagement between an abutment 29 of the hub 25 and a spring ring 30' associated with said hub. At diametrically opposite points, the housing 28 carries pintles 31, 31 upon which is journalled a gimbal ring 32 provided with opposite, radial projections 33, 33 whose axes are removed from the axes of the pintles 31, 31. It will be seen that movement of the gimbal ring and of the bearing toward the disc 21 will entrain the disc 24, the gimbal 'ring being free for limited movement relative to the housing 28 in the direction of the comet 3 axis of the pintles 3 1, 31, as is clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Aligned bearings 34 and 35 are carried by the base 15 and rockably support a rock shaft 36 upon an axis transverse with respect to the axis of the spindle 19. Arms 37, 37 are fixed to the shaft 36 and, at their upper ends 38, 38, engage the projections 33, 33, respectively, carried by the gimbal ring 32.

A second arm 39 is fixed to the rock shaft 36 and is formed at its distal end with a slot or slots 40. Preferably, the distal end of the arm 39 is bifurcated, as is most clearly to be seen in Figs. 1 and 3, and each furcation is formed with a slot 40. It will be apparent that the rock shaft 36 with the arms 37, 37 and the arm 39 constitute bellcrank lever means.

A bracket 41 rises from the bearing 34 and terminates in parallel, spaced arms 42 and 43 defining therebetween a space 44. A screw shaft 45 is journalled in aligned bores 46 and 47 in the arms 42 and 43, respectively, upon an axis which is transverse to the axis of the rock shaft 36. An axially-corrugated wheel 48 is fixed to the screw shaft 45 by means of a set screw 49 (Fig. 4) and is disposed in the space 44 to restrain the screw shaft 45 against axial movement relative to the bracket 41. Preferably, a round-nosed plunger 50 is reciprocably mounted in a socket 51 opening into the rear end of the space 44, and is yieldably urged into engagement with the peripheral surface of the wheel 48 by means of a coiled spring 52 seated in the socket 51.

,On the threaded portion of the shaft 45 are preferably mounted two stop elements 53 and 54 which may be readily adjusted to any desired positions along the length of the screw shaft and may be secured in desired positions of adjustment by means of set screws carried by said stop elements and bearing upon the shaft 45. Between the stop elements 53 and 54, a nut 55 is threadedly mounted on the screw shaft.

The bifurcated end of the lever arm 39 is proportioned and designed to straddle the nut 55 in such a relative position that opposite projections 56, 56 carried by the nut are operatively engaged in the slots 40 of the respective arm furcations. Preferably, but not necessarily, the nut 55 is rectangular in horizontal section. At any rate, the engagement of the arm 39 with the nut acts to prevent rotation of the nut 55 about the axis of the screw shaft 45 and to constrain the lever arm to move with the nut 55 as the latter travels longitudinally of the screw shaft upon rotation of the screw shaft. Any suitable means may be provided for rotating the screw shaft, but we have illustrated merely a polygonal head 57 at the upper end of the screw shaft for engagement by an operating wrench (not shown).

It will be apparent that the elements 36, 37, 39, constitute lever means comprising a first lever arm 37 and a second lever arm 39, angularly offset with respect to each other and coupled to move together so that movement of the lever arm 39 in response to travel of the nut 55 along the screw shaft 45 will result in corresponding movement of the lever arm 37. The distal ends 38 of the lever arms 37 being operatively connected to the disc 24, it will be clear that movements of the lever means will be accompanied by corresponding movements of the disc 24 toward and away from the disc 21.

An exansible V-pulley, indicated generally by the reference numeral 58, will be suitably mounted on the projecting end of the machine main shaft 11; and we presently believe that the pulley 58 should preferably be of the resiliently expansible type. As shown, the pulley 58 comprises a third coned disc 59 fixedly supported from the shaft 11, as, for instance, by means of a set screw 60 projectible into engagement with the shaft 11 which may be received in a central socket 61 formed in the elongated hub 62 of the disc 59. If desired, the disc 59 may further be keyed to the shaft 11. A further mating disc 63 is allochirally arranged with respect to the disc 59 and, as shown, is formed with an elongated hub 64 which is axially slidably mounted on the hub 62 and may be keyed thereto through the medium of a key 65. A coiled spring 66 is sleeved on the hub 64 and is confined between the rear surface of the disc 63 and an abutment 67 which is fixed with respect to the hub 62 (and thereby with respect to the shaft 11) by means of a spring ring 68. It will thus be seen that the disc 63 is yieldably urged toward the disc 59.

An edge-active belt 69 is trained over the pulleys 20 and 58 and engages frictionally between the facing surfaces of the respective discs of said pulleys to provide a driving connection therebetween.

In some instances, it may be necessary or desirable to use one or more shims 70 beneath the base 15.

With the parts in the relative positions illustrated in Fig. 2, for instance, the motor 17, when energized, will drive the shaft 11 at a speed greater than that of the spindle 19. Rotation of the screw shaft 45 in the proper direction will cause the nut 55 to move downwardly along said screw shaft, thereby carrying the distal end of the lever arm 39 downwardly to rock the lever means in a clockwise direction, whereby the disc 24 will be shifted away from the disc 21. Since the disc 63 is urged continuously toward the disc 59, tending to squeeze the belt 69 outwardly between the mating faces of the discs 59 and 63, such movement of the disc 24 will permit radially outward movement of the belt between the discs of the pulley 58, whereby the belt will be pulled more deeply between the mating faces of the discs 21 and 24. The effective diameter of the pulley 20 will thus be reduced and the effective diameter of the pulley 58 will be increased, whereby the speed of the shaft 11, with relation to the speed of the shaft 19, will be reduced. At an intermediate point in the range of adjustment of the parts, the speeds of the shaft 11 and the spindle 19 will become equal; and as downward adjustment of the nut 55 is continued, the speed of the shaft 11 will drop more and more below the speed of the spindle 19.

Opposite movement of the nut 55, of course, will force the disc 24 toward the disc 21, thereby squeezing the belt outwardly between the discs 21 and 24 and pulling it more deeply between the discs 59 and 63.

It will be perceived that, by reason of the specific details of construction disclosed above, we have provided a drive through which the main shaft of a spinning frame may be driven at variable speeds, without substantial projection of the driving unit outwardly beyond the end frame member of the spinning frame.

We claim as our invention:

1. The combination with a spinning frame having an end frame member and a main shaft projecting outwardly beyond said end frame member, of a speed-varying drive therefor comprising a base, means for securing said base in place beneath said spinning frame and inwardly with respect to said end frame member, a second shaft, journal means for said second shaft, means for fixedly securing said journal means to said base with said second shaft projecting outwardly beyond said end frame member in substantial parallelism with said main shaft, an expansible V-pulley supported from the projecting portion of said second shaft and comprising a first coned disc fixed to said second shaft and a mating coned disc allochirally arranged for axial adjustment toward and away from said first disc, thrust bearing means operatively associated with said mating disc and effective to entrain said mating disc with movement of said bear ing means toward said first disc, bell crank lever means rockably supported from said base upon an axis transverse with respect to the axis of said second shaft and located inwardly with respect to said end frame member, said lever means comprising a first arm and a second arm fixed with respect to said first arm, means providing an operative connection between said first lever arm and said thrust bearing means for shifting said bearing means 5. toward said first disc, a screw shaft supported in said base for rotation about an axis transverse with respect to the axis of said lever means and wholly located inwardly with respect to said end framemember, means providing an operative connection between said screw shaft and said second lever arm whereby rotation of said screw shaft in one direction or the other produces rocking mo tion of said lever means in one direction or the other about its axis, a resiliently-expansible V-pulley supported from the projecting portion of said main shaft and comprising a third coned disc fixed to said main shaft and a further mating coned disc allochirally arranged for axial movement toward and away from said third disc, means yieldably urging said further mating disc toward said third disc, and an edge-active belt providing a driving connection between said pulleys.

2. The combination with a spinning frame having an end frame member and a main shaft projecting outwardly beyond said end frame member, of a speed-varying drive therefor comprising a base, means for securing said base in place beneath said spinning frame and inwardly with respect to said end frame member, a second shaft, journal means for said second shaft, means for fixedly securing said journal means to said base with said second shaft projecting outwardly beyond said end frame member in substantial parallelism with said main shaft, an expansible V-pulley supported from the projecting portion of said second shaft and comprising a first coned disc fixed to said second shaft and a mating coned disc allochirally arranged for axial adjustment toward and away from said first disc, said mating coned disc being located between said first coned disc and said end frame member, thrust bearing means operatively associated with said mating coned disc, at that side thereof adjacent said end frame member and effective to entrain said mating disc with movement of said bearing means toward said first disc, lever means rockably supported from said base upon an axis transverse with respect to the axis of said second shaft and located inwardly with respect to said end frame member, said lever means comprising a first arm and a second arm angularly offset from said first arm, means providing an operative connection between said first lever arm and said thrust bearing means for shifting said bearing means toward said first disc, a screw shaft supported in said base for rotation about an axis transverse with respect to the axis of said lever means and wholly located inwardly with respect to said end frame member, means providing an operative connection between said screw shaft and said second lever arm whereby rotation of said screw shaft in one direction or the other produces rocking motion of said lever means in one direction or the other about its axis, a resiliently-expansible V-pulley supported at the distal end of the projecting portion of said main shaft and comprising a third coned disc fixed to said main shaft and a further mating coned disc allochirally arranged for axial movement toward and away from said third disc, said third coned disc being located between said further mating disc and said end frame member, means yieldably urging said further mating disc toward said third disc, and an edge-active belt providing a driving connection between said V-pulleys.

3. The combination with a spinning frame having an end frame member and a main shaft projecting outwardly beyond said end frame member and unsupported at its distal end, of a speed-varying drive therefor comprising a base, means for securing said base in place beneath said spinning frame and inwardly with respect to said end frame member, a second shaft, journal means for said second shaft, means for fixedly securing said journal means to said base with said second shaft projecting outwardly beyond said end frame member in substantial parallelism with said main shaft, an expansible V- pulley supported from the projecting portion of said second shaft and comprising a first coned disc fixed to said second shaft and a mating coned disc allochirally arranged for axial adjustment toward and away from said first disc,

said' mating coned disc being located between said first coned disc and said end frame member, thrust bearing means operatively associated with said mating coned disc, at that side thereof adjacent said end frame member, and effective to entrain said mating disc with movement of said bearing means toward said first disc, bell crank lever means rockably supported from said base upon an axis transverse with respect to the axis of said second shaft and located inwardly with respect to said end frame member, said lever means comprising a first arm and a second arm fixed with respect to said first arm, means providing an operative connection between said first lever arm and said thrust bearing means for shifting said bearing means toward said first disc, a screw shaft supported in said base for rotation about an axis transverse with respect to the axis of said lever means and wholly located inwardly with respect to said end frame member, said screw shaft being held against axial movement relative to said base, a nut threadedly mounted on said screw shaft and having a radial projection therefrom, said second lever arm having a longitudinal slot therein operatively receiving said projection whereby said nut is held against rotation about the axis of said screw shaft and said second lever arm is constrained to move with said nut as the latter travels longitudinally of said screw shaft upon rotation of said screw shaft, a resiliently-expansible V-pulley supported at the distal end of the projecting portion of said main shaft and comprising a third coned disc fixed to said main shaft and a further mating coned disc allochirally arranged for axial movement toward and away from said third disc, said third coned disc being located between said further mating disc and said end frame member, means yieldably urging said further mating disc toward said third disc, and an edge-active belt providing a driving connection between said V- pulleys.

4. The combination with a spinning frame having an end frame member and a main shaft projecting outwardly beyond said end frame member, of a speed-varying drive therefor comprising a base, means for securing said base in place beneath said spinning frame and inwardly with respect to said end frame member, a second shaft, journal means for said second shaft, means for fixedly securing said journal means to said base with said second shaft projecting outwardly beyond said end frame member in substantial parallelism with said main shaft, an expansible V-pulley supported from the projecting portion of said second shaft and comprising a first coned disc fixed to said second shaft and a mating coned disc allochirally arranged for axial adjustment toward and away from said first disc, thrust bearing means operatively associated with said mating disc and effective to entrain said mating disc with movement of said bearing means toward said first disc, bell crank lever means rockably supported from said base upon an axis transverse with respect to the axis of said second shaft and wholly located inwardly with respect to said end frame member, said lever means comprising a first arm and a second arm, means providing an operative connection between said first lever arm and said thrust bearing means for shifting said bearing means toward saidfirst disc, a screw shaft supported in said base for rotation about an axis transverse with respect to the axis of said lever means and wholly located inwardly with respect to said end frame member, means providing an operative connection between said screw shaft and said second lever arm whereby rotation of said screw shaft in one direction or the other produces rocking motion of said lever means in one direction or the other about its axis, a resiliently-expansible V-pulley supported from the projecting portion of said main shaft and comprising a third coned disc fixed to said main shaft and a further mating coned disc allochirally arranged for axial movement toward and away from said third disc, a

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Reeves Aug. 10, 1943 Luenberger Apr. 9, 1946 Rayfield Mar. 4, 1952 Reeves Apr. 28, 1953 Troemel Nov. 20, 1956 

